1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for dispensing wire; more particularly, to a mobile apparatus for simultaneously dispensing multiple strands of fencing wire.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The installation of farm fencing, especially fencing of the type used to control livestock, heretofore has involved the expenditure of large amounts of time and labor. These expenditures have been necessitated by the fact that farm fencing requires the installation of multiple strands of wire, sometimes as many as twelve, in order to adquately control farm livestock and/or prevent the ingress of animal intruders to the fenced area. Typically, such fences have been installed by traversing the proposed fence line with a single reel of steel wire, securing the dispensed wire strand to the end and middle fence posts in the line, stretching the wire strand to the desired degree of tautness, securing the wire strand to the remaining posts in the fence line, and repeating the process with the next strand of wire.
The smooth, high-tensile steel wire commonly used in farm fencing is economically purchased in large reels, e.g. 2000 pound reels. In the installation technique just described, the large reel is conveyed in some manner along the desired fence line, back and forth from one end of the fence line to the other, until the required number of strands have been installed. Because a single fence line many extend to 5000 feet and more, enormous amounts of time and effort are required to complete say a ten-strand fence line of such length.
Wire dispensers have long enjoyed widespread use in industrial applications, particularly in dispensing electrical wire during the wiring of a building. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,275,263; 2,562,650; 3,722,825; 3,304,025; 3,491,967; 3,178,129; 3,831,877; 3,902,679; and 3,990,653 are illustrative of such apparatus. Some of the devices shown in the foregoing patents are intended to carry and dispense multiple coils of wire; some are intended for mobile use; but none of the devices addresses the problem of simultaneously dispensing multiple strands of wire in spaced relation to one another, a feature that is needed to successfully dispense simultaneously multiple strands of fencing wire.